The Missouri Comets started their East Coast road trip and the year 2014 on the right foot, winning a back and forth game with the Rochester Lancers 19-17 in Rochester. The Comets controlled the ball in the first part of the game and were rewarded for their possession five minutes in when Leo Gibson back healed the ball to Vahid Assadpour on the overlap. Assadpour fired the ball to the far post into the net making it 3-0.
As the first quarter wore on, the Lancers started to get more of the ball and just over 10 minutes into the quarter, Pedrinho fired a shot from 3 point range that Robert Palmer tried to head away, but ended up heading into his own net for a 3 point goal. A little over a minute later, Gary Boughton scored a two point goal to give the Lancers a 3 point lead. The Comets leveled the game under a minute later. A Coady Andrews pass along the boards ended up hitting the referee and rolling out to the top of the box where Palmer atoned for heading the ball in earlier and fired a low shot into the corner to tie the game. With less than a minute left in the quarter though the Lancers retook the lead. Mauricio Salles collected the ball, turned and fired a 3 point shot past Danny Waltman and into the net to give the Lancers a three point lead after one quarter.
In the second quarter the Comets came out very quickly and closed the gap to one. Just a minute and a half in, the Comets had a restart in the Lancers' end. The restart was played to Assadpour who fired a shot on goal that was blocked. The blocked shot fell to Gibson though who turned and fired to make it 8-7. A little over a minute later the Comets took the lead. The Comets had the ball deep in the Lancer's end and a shot hit off the boards and crossed the field to the far side where Lucas Rodriguez settled the ball and played a short pass to John Sosa who raced through and fired home to make it 9-8 Comets. The Comets extended their lead to three shortly after that as Gibson and Assadpour teamed up again. This time Gibson set up Assadpour playing a low cross that Assadpour turned in to make it 11-8.
The lead didn't last long, as less than a minute later, Boughton fired a 3 pointer from the yellow line that went into the far corner of the net giving Waltman no chance. The three pointer was the Lancers third of the game. A couple minutes later, Pedrinho put the Lancers back in front as he followed up a shot from Doug Miller that hit off the wall. A minute later though the Comets were back level. A Stefan St Louis shot hit off the foot of a Lancers defender and off the wall into the path of Rodriguez who slammed the ball home to tie the game at 13-13. That's where the two teams stayed heading into the half time break.
The third quarter couldn't have started any worse for the Comets. Just 49 seconds in, Boughton finished off his hattrick with a header off a cross from Joseph Tavernese. Then before three minutes had passed, a shot by Bato hit the post and bounced off of Waltman and Sosa and into the net and like that the Comets were down 13-17. The Comets were helped out a little bit later in the quarter as within 10 seconds of each other, two Lancer players picked up blue cards putting Missouri on the good side of a 5 on 3 situation, compared to their game against the Knights. The Comets took advantage as Assadpour picked out Sosa on the back post. His first effort at a back heal didn't work, but his second went through Gavin McInerny's legs and deflected off a Lancer defender and into the net making it 17-15. The Comets continued trying to tie the game and finally with under four minutes left inthe quarter they leveled the score. Milan Ivanovic had a shot well saved by McInerny, but the rebound hit off of Bryan Perez and into the path of Ramone Palmer who beat McInerny to the ball and knocked it home to level the scores.
The fourth quarter saw the Comets once again take the lead. Gibson one the ball with a slide tackle in the Comets end. The ball rolled to Assadpour who took the ball from one end of the field to the other before firing a shot through the legs of McInerny and into the net making it 19-17. The Comets were able to kill a lot of time in the fourth quarter with some really good possession, taking a number of minutes off the clock as they tried to kill the game off. The game looked like it might be over when with just two minutes, 20 seconds left, Juninho picked up a blue card for the Lancers. But the Comets seemed content to sit back which allowed the Lancers to put their sixth attacker back out there. The Comets held off, but in the end it wasn't without some controversy. With just seconds left, the Lancers raced down the field and the ball was played into the middle for Elliot Fauske. Brian Harris was racing back and looked to take out Fauske from behind and then cleared the ball away while on the ground to kill the clock off. Appeals were made by the Lancers, their coach, fans, and the broadcasters, but no foul was given.
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